The war-torn Golan Heights region along the Israeli-Syrian border has become a bargaining chip in negotiations between the two nations.

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Harvesting Figs

A Syrian fig farmer in Golan Heights. Now, the region is gray and dusty, but during the spring, it is green and flowering.

Photo: Fox News Channel

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Majdal Shams

Many Syrian Druze live under Israeli occupation in Majdal Shams. According to residents, the Israeli government does not let inhabitants come and go, with the rare exceptions of marriage outside the community or young people studying at universities.

Photo: Fox News Channel

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Majdal Shams

About 20,000 Syrians live under Israeli occupation in Golan Heights, and 120,000 more became refugees. Slightly less than 20,000 Israeli settlers live in the region.

Photo: Fox News Channel

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No Man's Land

Every Friday, the people of Majdal Shams go to the fence on the Syrian border. On the other side of the no man's land, their relatives in Syria line up as well. They bring megaphones to communicate with each other. The area is called the “Shouting Valley” or the “Weeping Valley.”

Photo: Fox News Channel

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Quneitra

Quneitra was the regional seat of Golan Heights before it was seized by Israeli forces in 1967. The United Nations maintains several checkpoints to Quneitra, though no one lives there anymore after Israeli and Syrian bombing.

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Quneitra

Syrians say Israel bulldozed Quneitra on its way out, and blasted away at it with dynamite. Israel claims it was destroyed in the fighting between Israel and Syria, and from Syrian shelling during the years of Israeli occupation.

Photo: Fox News Channel

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Quneitra

The Syrians have not salvaged Quneitra, which lies in Syrian territory. They have left it as an outdoor museum. Israel is said to be willing to turn Golan back to Syria in return for a stop to Syrian support for Hamas and Hezbollah.